Back Here
by BeginAgain46
Summary: After entrusting someone with your heart and having them give it back, shattered into pieces, you end up back here where it all began. Sequel to Long Time Coming TATE
1. My Heart on a Platter

**Back Here** by **saulalovin**  
A **NCIS** fan fiction

**Pairing:** Tony DiNozzo and Kate Todd  
**Summary:** After entrusting someone with your heart and having them give it back, shattered into pieces, you end up back here where it all began.  
**Spoilers:** None, actually.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of 'NCIS'. Oh, how I wish I did.  
**Author's Note:** This is the sequel to 'Long Time Coming'. It picks up directly afterwards. Please read and review!

* * *

PART I – MY HEART ON A PLATTER

Kate Todd awoke with a smile on her face. She wasn't aware of the reason why, but as soon as she rolled over, she remembered at once.

Tony DiNozzo slept soundly, his arm curled protectively around her waist. He stirred a little when she rolled over, and he pulled her closer to him, his forehead touching hers.

She needed to wake him up right now so that they wouldn't be late for work. He looked so peaceful and almost angelic as he slept, and she found herself pausing just to watch him in his slumber.

After a few moments she reached up and ran the fingers of her right hand through his hair lovingly. She leaned forward and proceeded to kiss him awake, planting soft kisses all over his face – on his forehead, his cheeks, his eyes, his nose, and finally on his mouth.

He let out a happy-sounding noise and opened his eyes to smile at her. "God, I want to wake up that way every day."

"See, told you it wasn't a bad idea for you to sleep over," she said with a grin, playing with the stubble on his chin.

"Ah, yes. I shall agree with the Great Kate from now on, because she is always _right_," he teased.

"Oh, Tony, I know how hard it was for you to finally admit that. Poor baby," she cooed, pinching his cheek.

He made a face at her, and they both laughed.

"Hey, Kate – think I can finally put up my 8x10 glossy of you in that wet T-shirt contest?" he asked suddenly.

"I don't think you'll be needing it, seeing as how you've got the real thing…" She winked at him and scooted away. "Come on, we'll be late. You still have to go back to your apartment to shower and change."

He smiled winningly, watching her get up and put on her bathrobe. "Oh, come on, Katie. Don't tell me you actually want to go in and work instead of staying her all day in this bedroom with me? Call in sick… You know you _want_ to."

"Wrong, DiNozzo. I don't want to," she said, going over to his side of the bed and attempting to pull him off. "We have work to do."

His eyes glittered mischievously as he pulled at her instead, causing her to fall back on top of him back on the bed.

"Déjà vu, huh?" he said softly, staring into her eyes. "You could say that this was where it all started."

She laughed. "Come _on_, Tony. I'm not going anywhere. You'll see me at work."

He sighed theatrically. "It wouldn't be the same. I can't kiss you whenever I want – not when Gibbs is ordering us around and whacking me on the head."

Laughing, she tried to push up off him, but he didn't let her go. He captured her lips with his and began to kiss her, hard. It didn't take much persuasion for her to reciprocate, but pretty soon she pulled away from him regretfully.

"Gibbs is going to have a fit if we aren't there soon," she reminded him.

"Oh, _all_ _right_," he grumbled. He helped her off him and he stood up, buttoning his shirt. "I'll see you later, Kate."

"Wait, Tony," she said, whirling around. "Hang on a sec."

"First you wanted me to go, and now you're having second thoughts? I'm sorry, but it's too late," he told her mock-sternly.

She merely raised an eyebrow at him and chuckled slightly as she unclasped the silver necklace that hung around her neck. Carefully, she took off the heart-shaped pendant and took his palm. She pressed the pendant into his hand and closed his fingers around it.

"What's this?" he asked, confused. "Kate, I don't know about my wearing this… You have no idea how much better it looked hanging around your neck."

She laughed and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "This necklace used to belong to my mother, and before her, my grandmother. _That_ is my heart, DiNozzo."

He stared at her, wide-eyed, as it began to sink in. She was entrusting him with her heart. She believed in him so much and her faith in him was so deep that she was _handing_ _him_ _her_ _heart_.

"I won't let you down," he said finally.

"I know you won't," she whispered.

_You_ _better_ _not_, she added silently as she watched him leave.


	2. The Boss Weighs In

_Okay, the finale sucked. Big-time. Urgh. _

_Anyhoo, thanks for all the great reviews, here in "Back Here" and in my other fics. You guys rock. I love your feedback, so keep those reviews coming!_

_By the way, does anyone know the name of theTony's frat brotherthatKate dated? I think they mentioned it in "Meat Puzzle". I just don't remember his name. I'd like to say it was Steve, but... It would be a big help to me if one of you remembered. I need it for the next part._

_A bunch of you wanted to see Gibbs's reaction to their dating, so here we go._

* * *

PART TWO – THE BOSS WEIGHS IN 

_Two_ _weeks_ _later_

They were doing a pretty good job of keeping their relationship a secret…or so they thought. Gibbs, McGee and Abby all noticed a change between the two, as well as the little looks they kept giving each other when they thought no one was looking.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs wasn't sure how to address the situation. He didn't even know if he should, since they were keeping their relationship out of the office and it wasn't in any way interfering with their work. (He chose to overlook the glances they often exchanged, since _technically _there wasn't anything _wrong_ with looking.)

Yet he was still concerned about where their relationship was going, and like Abby and McGee, worried about one of them – Kate in particular – getting hurt. So he took it upon himself to have a little talk with Tony that morning.

"Kate, get me a profile on Petty Officer Stella Clark. McGee, I want her address. _Now_," barked Gibbs. "And Tony…" He tossed him a set of keys. "You're with me. Grab the sedan."

Tony quickly looked over at Kate, and they exchanged silent goodbyes before he headed down to the parking garage. After picking Gibbs up at the main entrance of the NCIS headquarters, they headed towards the petty officer's house.

"So," Gibbs said out of the blue. "How's Kate, DiNozzo?"

Tony nearly drove into a fire hydrant and managed to avoid it at the last possible second. "W-what, Gibbs?"

He fixed his blue eyes on Tony, who was already turning pale. "You heard me, DiNozzo."

Tony kept his eyes on the road, thoughts swirling dizzily in his head. He was panicking majorly. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about, boss," he said, lying pathetically.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at him and waited.

He sighed in defeat. He had no choice but to admit. "Look, Gibbs, I know you frown upon relationships between agents," he said finally with a sigh. "But we thought we covered it up pretty well."

"Do you love her?" Gibbs asked gruffly, his eyes never leaving Tony's face.

Tony allowed himself a quick glance in Gibbs's direction. "I do," he said firmly.

"Good. Break her heart and I'll kill you," he said nonchalantly, looking out the window.

He gulped. "I won't break her heart, Gibbs…sir."

"She's good for you, you know."

"I know."

"She made you grow up. After all these years of you being convinced that you were still in _college_… She's practically a miracle worker, DiNozzo."

"Yes, sir, I know that."

"You do know that if you hurt her, it wouldn't just be me who'd be after you?" Gibbs said conversationally. "Why, Ducky would be happy to – "

" – I have no intention of hurting Kate, Gibbs, so I wouldn't want to hear what Ducky would do," Tony interrupted.

He nodded approvingly. "Huh. My BS meter isn't going off. You must really be serious about her. Amazing."

"Sure is, Gibbs. Kate…_she's_ amazing." He paused, took a deep breath and plowed on. "So, uh… Does that mean we have your, er, blessing, Gibbs?"

"Why the hell would you need my blessing, DiNozzo?" he demanded. "I sure as hell hope you aren't getting married. It's too damn soon."

"No, no! We're not getting married. We haven't even _discussed_ anything remotely like that! We just need your, uh…_support_. So you won't, er, fire us or anything."

"And lose two of my best agents? You're crazy."

"Boss… You-you mean that? We're 'two of your best agents'?"

Gibbs snorted, reached over and gave him a sharp whack on the head. "Don't flatter yourself, DiNozzo."

He knew he should've left it at that, but he blurted out anyway, "Just like that? You're letting us off, just like that?"

Gibbs fixed a steely gaze on the younger agent. "Would you like me to take it all back, DiNozzo?"

"N-no! Just… You're not going say something like, 'Don't let it interfere with your work', or something?" Tony threw the car into park and looked at Gibbs, who seemed to ignore him.

He finally shut up and quit while he was ahead. Pulling on his NCIS cap, he followed Gibbs up the front walk to the petty officer's house.

Gibbs rang the doorbell and they waited in silence, Tony fidgeting nervously.

The doorknob turned, and Gibbs turned to look at Tony as he fished out his badge from his coat pocket.

"Don't let it interfere with your work," he said simply.


	3. Breach

_Thanks to all who've reviewed. You know I love you guys, and that I'm writing just for you._

_I thought I'd have a hard time because Kate is dead – or so they say, but I'm still in denial – but it seems that writing keeps her alive. Eeek, I'm freaking myself out! Lol. _

_Special shout-out to **cheezmunky**, for helping me with the Steve Adler thing. Hee._

_Keep those reviews coming! _

* * *

PART THREE – BREACH

_Three months later_

"DiNozzo," she heard him answer his phone. "Steve! …No way. Harris is in town? _And _Parker? …Reunion?" His face fell. "Oh, I don't know about that, man." There was a long pause. "I'll pass. I'll just give 'em a call. Yeah, okay. Okay, bye."

There was a click as he shut his phone closed, followed by a heavy sigh. She couldn't help it – she looked up across her where Tony sat. He felt her worried gaze on him and his head snapped up to look at her.

"Everything okay?" she mouthed.

He nodded. "Fine," he lied.

Kate shot him a _don't-lie-to-me_ look and glanced around her. Gibbs was down in Autopsy with Ducky, checking out the latest corpse. McGee tapping away at the keyboard, preoccupied with the copious amount of paperwork that was stacked up in his workstation. She got up from her desk and walked over to Tony's. She rested her hands on his shoulders.

"Okay, give me an honest answer, Tony," she said, rubbing his shoulders gently. "What's going on?"

He sighed, took her hands off his shoulders, turned around and captured her hands in his, stroking them absentmindedly. "Some of our frat brothers are in Baltimore for the night. We were supposed to get together, have a beer or two and talk."

"So what's the problem? Sounds like fun."

He raised an eyebrow at her, and she laughed. "I meant fun for you guys. Not me."

He cracked a small smile and looked into her eyes. "We have plans, Kate, remember? Dinner and movie at my place?"

She caressed his cheek lovingly. "Wow, you actually chose _me_ over _them_? You surprise me everyday, Tony DiNozzo."

He pressed a kiss into the palm that was on his cheek and smiled up at her. "I try."

"You should go," she told him. "We can do dinner and a movie any old time."

He shook his head. "We had plans first, I – "

" – You are adorable, you know that? But it's not everyday that several of your frat brothers come to Baltimore. It's only one night. It won't kill us to be apart for one night, baby." She smiled tenderly at him. "Well, it won't kill me, I don't know about you…" She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

"Tease," he said, pulling her down to sit on his lap and giving her a chaste kiss.

"Offer's going…going…"

"Only if you're sure," he said quickly.

"Positive. I'll hang with Abby or someone. Don't worry. I can share you," she winked.

He pressed a kiss into her hair. "Thanks, Kate."

They sat there like that for a while, until she piped up. "Wait – _Steve_ Steve?"

He looked at her quizzically.

"Steve _Adler_?"

His eyes narrowed as he understood. "Oh. You dated him, right?" he asked flatly.

A smile crept onto Kate's face. "Tony, you aren't jealous, are you?"

"I'm _not_," he said, but the grumpy look on his face told her otherwise.

She cupped his face in her hands, gently turning his head to look at her. "Hey – you have nothing to be jealous about, okay?" She gave him a gentle, loving kiss and smiled into his mouth when she felt him kiss her back.

Someone cleared their throat loudly, and the two jumped apart as though electrocuted. They looked guiltily at each other and said in unison, "Sorry, Gibbs."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tony woke up with his head pounding horribly. He felt the warm sunlight on his face, probably streaming in through the slats in the blinds. The air in the room smelled like stale beer and sweat.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, first the right eye, and then the left. He winced at the sudden brightness and clutched his head as he sat up, feeling his muscles ache.

He looked around wide-eyed, not recognizing his surroundings.

Where the _hell_ was he?

Panicking, he looked down at himself.

He wasn't wearing any clothes.

_Shit_. _Ohshitohshitohshitohshit_.

His heart pounding, he got off the bed, picked up his clothes that were scattered all over the floor, and got dressed.

Nothing appeared to be missing from his wallet, and he still had his keys, PDA and shoes. Still, his heart sunk deeper and deeper as he realized what he had just done the night before.

He had cheated on Kate.

Granted, he didn't remember any of it, and he knew he must've been out of it pretty badly because he would've _never _done this if he were sober, but he still cheated on her.

He was disgusted with himself – even more so when a quick search of the apartment he was in turned up no clues as to how he had ended up here or with whom he had slept with.

His head was pounding harder than ever, and he felt like he was about to throw up any minute now. He quickly got out of the apartment and stood outside the building, taking note of his surroundings. After making a note of where he was on his PDA, he hailed a cab home with only one thought in his head:

He had to tell Kate what he had done.

But the question is, how? How did you tell the one you loved – yes, he _loved_ Kate Todd – that you had hurt her? How do you tell that person you've betrayed their trust?

His insides gave a mighty lurch as the cabbie pulled up in front of his apartment building. After paying him, he hurried up to his apartment as fast as he could (which, considering his current situation, wasn't very fast at all), threw up in the toilet, and passed out in a cold sweat on his bed.


	4. Betrayal

_Big hugs and kisses to all who have reviewed this, plus my other Tate fic, 'Everything'. Sorry for the delay – I went into delayed shock over the finale. Heh._

* * *

PART FOUR – BETRAYAL

"Where the hell's DiNozzo, Kate?" demanded Gibbs, coffee cup in hand.

Her head jerked up and she felt her cheeks turning red. She still wasn't quite used to the fact that Gibbs knew about her and Tony. "Uh, I don't know, Gibbs. I haven't talked to him since last night." She rolled her eyes as he looked at her questioningly. "We're _fine_, Gibbs. He just went out with a few friends, okay?"

McGee hung up the phone. "That was him. He just called in sick."

She began to feel the first trickles of worry set into her. "D-did he say anything else, McGee?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

He looked at her, his face softening at the evident worry in her tone. "Yeah, Tony said that he's fine and to not worry about him, Kate."

"He's probably just hungover," she muttered, relaxing slightly and feeling ridiculous at how she had panicked earlier.

"Check on him later, Kate, won't you?" Gibbs said absently as he signed away at some papers.

"Sure." She tucked strands of hair behind her ears and sighed, still unable to completely shake off the unease she felt.

_He's fine_, she reminded herself repeatedly.

So why does it feel differently? 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The knock on his door came at around eight, just as he expected. Feeling scared and nervous, he flung the door open and without warning, Kate rushed into his arms and gave him a big hug.

He couldn't resist her touch, and tension flowed out of him as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her even closer.

"Are you all right?" she asked, finally pulling away and searching his face anxiously.

"Fine," he assured her, turning away from her. Just _seeing_ her hurt him, making him feel even worse.

Her eyebrows knitted together, confused. "Tony…"

"I have to tell you something," he blurted out quickly.

"Okay," she said, putting her arm on his forearm. "Wait, are you sure you're all right?"

He didn't answer, instead leading her into his living room and motioning for her to take a seat. She did so, the worry and fear in her eyes growing.

"What's going on?" she whispered, her heart beginning to beat at a faster pace.

He sat on the edge of the coffee table, across from her seat on the couch. He took her hands in his, looked into her eyes, and told her in a quiet voice everything that had happened.

Her face was blank the entire time, and it stayed that way even after he had finished speaking. A defeated expression came across Tony's face as Kate pulled her hands away from is and stood up, walking over to the far corner of the room.

Her arms crossed, she bit her lip as she tried not to cry. The one thought that ran through her mind was this: _How could he have done this to me? _A part of her was waiting for him to walk over to her with a goofy smile on his face, telling her he was just joking so she could elbow him in the gut and smack him for playing such a crappy, stupid, _painful_ joke. She would be furious with him but she would cool down in a bit and fall into his arms, relieved that it was just a _joke_.

But a much larger part of her knew that he wouldn't joke about things like this. This _was _the truth, the reality of the situation. To be honest, deep down, she had been waiting for something like this to happen, ever since hooking up with him in the first place.

_People like him don't change_, she told herself sadly. Once a womanizer, always a womanizer. Dammit, why hadn't she listened to her gut before? Why had she deluded herself with the idea that this was _different_?

"Kate…" she heard him say softly in a voice laced with regret and hurt. "I am so, so sorry."

_Why the hell am I hearing remorse in his voice?_ she screamed to herself in anger. _He couldn't _possibly_ be feeling guilty for his actions_!

_I thought he cared about me_, a small voice at the back of her head started. _He couldn't have done this. He couldn't have. Maybe this is some mistake. Maybe the alcohol made him hallucinate, or… _something_. He gave me his word. He'd never hurt me. I_ gave _him my_ heart!

She wiped hastily at the tears that had fallen down her cheeks and whirled around angrily. "You are a _sick _son of a bitch, you know that? What the hell is _wrong_ with you? How could you do this to me?"

Every word she said to him was like a slap to the face. His eyes burned painfully as he tried to hold back tears, knowing he deserved every single thing she said to him. He _was _a sick son of a bitch. Only sick son of a bitches got drunk and slept around with another woman while their girlfriend wasn't around.

"I'm sorry," he said for the nth time, tears slipping down his face for real.

"Sorry won't change what happened," she said to him coldly, refusing to be swayed by the sight of him crying.

"I know, Kate, but I really, truly am – "

"Save it." Her eyes flashed angrily, and all sorts of emotions flooded through her, threatening to push her over the edge any second now. Fighting the sudden urge to throw things at him and call him all sorts of cruel things, she inhaled and exhaled deeply, willing herself to calm down, but it didn't appear to be working. In the end she pressed her lips tightly together and fought to stay silent.

After regaining some semblance of control, she turned back to him, her eyes once again filled with tears. "What now, DiNozzo?"

He looked up at her, looking as though he had aged about ten years. "I don't know," he said softly. "I didn't plan on it…happening. If I could turn back time and undo it, I would, in a heartbeat. I – " He broke off and buried his head in his hands, his fists clenched. He was so stupid. The one time in his life when things were going so well, he had to go and screw it up - _and_ hurt the one he loved in the process.

"Tony… We'd both like things to go back to the way they were. But it happened, and we have to deal with that. I…" She sucked in another deep breath and exhaled shakily before looking up at him.

"I think we should break up," he heard her say.

His insides froze up, but he managed to open his mouth and croak, "I guess we should."

Her eyes had gone shiny with tears again, and she struggled to keep her voice steady. "So that's it, then. We've broken up."

"That's it," he said dully.

A painful gasp shot out of her lips and, with tears streaming down her cheeks, she left as fast as she could.


End file.
